부산대학교 도서관

We used the data on latitude variations obtained from observations with 10 classical photographic zenith tubes (PZT) in order to improve the Hipparcos proper motions in declinations $mu_{delta} $ for 807 stars. Part of observing programmes, carried out during the last century for the purpose of studying the Earth's rotation, were realized by using PZT instruments. These observations were performed within in the intervals (tens of years) much longer than that of the Hipparcos mission (less than 4 years). In addition, the annual number of observations for every PZT-programme star is several hundreds on the average. Though the accuracy of the star coordinates in the Hipparcos Catalogue is by two orders of magnitude better than that of the star coordinates from the PZT observations, the large number of observations performed a much longer time interval makes it possible to correct the Hipparcos proper motions and to improve their accuracy with respect to the accuracy given in the Hipparcos Catalogue. Long term examinations of latitude and time variations were used to form the Earth Orientation Catalogue (EOC-2), aimed at a more accurate determination of positions and proper motions for the stars included. Our method of calculating the corrections of the proper motions in declination from the latitude variations is different from the method used in obtaining the EOC-2 Catalogue. Comparing the results we have established a good agreement between our $mu_ {delta} $ and the EOC-2 ones for the star sample used in the present paper.